House Speaker Philip Gunn used an analogy involving goats and church tithing Monday to make the point that Mississippi would never lose money under a long-term proposal to phase out the state personal income tax.

Attorneys for death row inmate Charles Ray Crawford will argue before the Mississippi Supreme Court March 23 that the man's 1994 rape conviction should be tossed out because he received poor legal representation at his trial.

In a game of escalating tax-cut proposals, House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, will propose the biggest so far: a $1.7 billion phaseout of Mississippi's state personal income tax over more than a decade, a top legislator said late Monday.